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Observation of spatially ordered structures in a two-dimensional Rydberg gas

Nature volume 491, pages 87–91 (2012)Cite this article

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Abstract

The ability to control and tune interactions in ultracold atomic gases has paved the way for the realization of new phases of matter. So far, experiments have achieved a high degree of control over short-range interactions, but the realization of long-range interactions has become a central focus of research because it would open up a new realm of many-body physics. Rydberg atoms are highly suited to this goal because the van der Waals forces between them are many orders of magnitude larger than those between ground-state atoms1. Consequently, mere laser excitation of ultracold gases can cause strongly correlated many-body states to emerge directly when atoms are transferred to Rydberg states. A key example is a quantum crystal composed of coherent superpositions of different, spatially ordered configurations of collective excitations2,3,4,5. Here we use high-resolution, in situ Rydberg atom imaging to measure directly strong correlations in a laser-excited, two-dimensional atomic Mott insulator6. The observations reveal the emergence of spatially ordered excitation patterns with random orientation, but well-defined geometry, in the high-density components of the prepared many-body state. Together with a time-resolved analysis, this supports the description of the system in terms of a correlated quantum state of collective excitations delocalized throughout the gas. Our experiment demonstrates the potential of Rydberg gases to realize exotic phases of matter, thereby laying the basis for quantum simulations of quantum magnets with long-range interactions.

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Figure 1: Schematics of the many-body excitation.
Figure 2: Spatially ordered components of the many-body states.
Figure 3: Correlation functions of Rydberg excitations.
Figure 4: Time evolution of the number of Rydberg excitations.

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Acknowledgements

We thank R. Löw for discussions. We acknowledge funding by MPG, DFG, EU (NAMEQUAM, AQUTE, Marie Curie Fellowship to M.C.) and JSPS (Postdoctoral Fellowship for Research Abroad to T.F.).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max-Planck-Institut für Quantenoptik, 85748 Garching, Germany,

    Peter Schauß, Marc Cheneau, Manuel Endres, Takeshi Fukuhara, Sebastian Hild, Ahmed Omran, Christian Gross, Stefan Kuhr & Immanuel Bloch

  2. Max-Planck-Institut für Physik komplexer Systeme, 01187 Dresden, Germany,

    Thomas Pohl

  3. Department of Physics, University of Strathclyde, SUPA, Glasgow G4 0NG, UK,

    Stefan Kuhr

  4. Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, Fakultät für Physik, 80799 München, Germany,

    Immanuel Bloch

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  1. Peter Schauß
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All authors contributed extensively to the work presented in this paper.

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Correspondence to Peter Schauß.

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Supplementary Information

This file contains Supplementary Text and Data 1-7, Supplementary Figures 1-3, Supplementary Tables 1-2 and additional references. (PDF 324 kb)

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Schauß, P., Cheneau, M., Endres, M. et al. Observation of spatially ordered structures in a two-dimensional Rydberg gas. Nature 491, 87–91 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11596

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